India sends more aid to cyclone-hit Myanmar

New Delhi, May 7: India dispatched eight tonnes of more assistance to Myanmar where cyclone death toll has risen to over 22,000 and over 41,000 others are missing. Two Indian Air Force transport aircrafts loaded with medicines, tents and other relief material were dispatched today.

"There are two Aircrafts that are leaving for Myanmar with the relief material. One is the N 32 that you can see in my background, this N 32 is carrying medicines and tents and the total load is approximately 4 tonnes," said Munish Gandhi, Defence Public Relations Officer, India. India has already dispatched two shiploads of relief material from Port Blair in Andaman and Nicobar islands.

The UN World Food Program, which was preparing to fly in food supplies, offered a grim assessment of the destruction up to a million people possibly homeless, some villages almost totally destroyed and vast rice-growing areas wiped out.

Relief efforts for the stricken area, mostly in the low-lying Irrawaddy River delta, have been difficult, in large part because of the destruction of roads and communications outlets by the storm.

In Yangon, many roofs were ripped off even sturdy buildings, suggesting the severe damage in the shanty towns that lie on the outskirts of the city of five million people.

Shunned by the West for detention of Aung San Suu Kyi and its dismal human rights record, Myanmar has been the target of Western sanctions for years.